I have had many ask my opinion of what machine to get. Well in my opinion, they are all good machines, some more expensive than others.
I am no expert, but I have learned how to use the different machines I have had in my life and how to control them. And even a few I have not had with pictures sent to me and I was able to see how that machine worked. All self taught with first my hand knitting taken to the machine but then also received or bought books (some can be a horrid experience to understand but others are very easy), the older magazines seems to have allot of good information in them but most of those were for the Standard Gauge Machine.
But still any techniques used on those machine can be used on the other machines. There is one magazine still in production
from the UK and can be purchased here in the United States
as well, and other publications just have copied free stuff from the internet.
First you need to ask yourself of what yarn you want to us.
There is the Fine, Standard, Mid and Bulky gauge machines. Going from thin yarn that is as thin as sewing thread to Worsted Weight yarn (here in the United States, this is considered 4 ply but in other parts of the world, that is the same as 8 or 10 ply)
When starting out, if your unsure if you want to continue this craft, then go for an inexpensive machine like the Bond Machine.
They can be finicky but if you can get a hold of the older Bond machines, they are built with thicker plastic and tend to hold up better than the newer ones. But many have had good luck with the newer machines as well. You may also find great deals at yard or garage sales or even thrift shops.
There is also the LK100 that is a bulky 9mm machine, that has a yarn mast on the carriage that may be a little more easier to use, but still may cost more than you want. Bear in mind that some of the older machines, you may not be able to find replacement parts. Also buyer beware of internet sales, you get a picture that the machine looks good but once you get it to your home, you find more work needed to get it back to working order. As my mom always told me, you get what you pay for but then I see some selling different machines at ridiculous high prices where most of those were purchased at an estate sale. That is another thing, if the ad states "They know nothing about the machine", that is one sale to stay away from. Buying a used machine from a home machine knitter that is either upgrading or retiring, that may be your best bet for the machines that will do more with just a few clicks of a knob or lever and a card to do the design stitch for you. You can find a decent seller if you keep looking, as the ole saying goes, "Good things come to those that wait".
Then next would be the LK150 or the KX350, both mid gauge and plastic bed machines but can still make things that the more expensive machines can do but you will need to do some hand manipulation or hand tooling to get the same effect. You can still get more accessories for the LK machines than the KX or even the plastic KH machines.
Now the next step would be a metal bed machine. There are those that are manual with no punch card readers that you will be the same as the plastic bed machines, had tooling but still good machines. The SK150, SK151 and KH230 and sure there are others out there, but to name a few.
Next step up is the Punch Card machines. You have the standard gauge (4.5mm) that have the 24 stitch repeat punch cards and use the thinner yarns, you can get some baby or sport yarn as well as sock yarn to work on these machines but you can also get some thinner yarn on cones that you may have to double or triple up but works pretty good.
There is also the Fine Gauge (3.5mm) that has the 30 st punch card but will need to use the very thin yarn on those, I don't suspect that this gauge machine can use the baby or sport yarn much.
Or the Bulky (9mm) that will have either the 12 or 24 stitch repeat punch cards to work up the different designs. Many find the Studio type machine carriages slide along very easily but then you find those that find the Brother machine carriages slide just as easily as well.
Then there is the Studio SK860 Mid Gauge machine that is an electronic machine, so you need the Electronic Card Reader (EC1 with or without the PE1) or a computer to use Silver Knit or DAK (Design A Knit). You can still find Silver Knit free online but DAK can be
very expensive for some wallets.
The predecessor to the 860 is the SK160 with no punch card capability and the ribber cannot be used with it but you can upgrade it to the SK860 from the previous paragraph.
The Brother Electronic machines have the designs built into the machine, some older ones you use Mylar Sheets but still the electronic parts to those as well as the Studio type machines may be hard to find. But I am sure one can find someone to fix the circuit board if it happens to go.
Then there are the Artisan machines, some are clones to the brother, the 70D looks like a nice mid gauge machine, again with no punch card but manually getting your different designs.
It is really up to the person of what machine they want to work with, some will always say to get the Brother type machines, when others will say to get the Studio type machines. As mentioned above, I think they are all good but some can be more to deal with than other machines. Search YouTube
for the different machines and see what you think. Now some of the plastic circular machines come up in this search, maybe you want
one of those. I do prefer the Addi Circular machine for making hats very quickly with no seam. Of course you will see
that I have more Studio Type machines now but do have a Brother manual machine as I still get requests for that type and did make a good trade to get that machine. She may have got the better deal but I am not about in making a profit, I am more in teaching anything I can.
Below are some links, and I will try and add more as I go through my favorites list, you should go directly to and not go to where someone just copied the page and set it up as their own site as if they did all that work. That is just someone that cannot do for
themselves and need to depend on other people to do the hard work for them.